


We Got Work To Do

by Black_Cat_Autumn



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Author is emotionally constipated, Character Death, Dean Winchester Needs a Hug, Grief/Mourning, Help!, Hopeful Dean Winchester, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Not Beta Read, Rated teen audiences for swearing, Spoilers!, Whump, You have been warned!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27413887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Cat_Autumn/pseuds/Black_Cat_Autumn
Summary: !!!SPOILERS!!! You have been warned!Cas was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. Not this time.How could Dean be happy without him?
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	We Got Work To Do

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS!!!
> 
> I wanted to thank a specific group of people in the fandom. If any of ya’ll are reading this, I want to let you know that I enjoyed flailing with you about 15x18! :)
> 
> Also, a huge thank you to whoever is reading this. I hope it makes your night better!

Dean was numb.

He couldn’t hear the phone ringing over the ragged breaths catching in his throat. 

For what felt like an eternity, Dean just stood there. He could barely process what had happened. Everything replayed in his head like a deranged motion picture. 

Cas was standing there, lips twisted into a loving smile. Tears stained the angel’s cheeks, sky-blue eyes locked onto green. The three words he spoke repeated in Dean’s mind like a broken record.

“I love you.”

At first Dean was in shock. He stood there, eyes blown wide.

Did he just say what he thought he did? Could it really be true???

Did Cas love him?

Dean had barely squeaked any words out in response before everything fell apart. The walls shook, the door burst open—

The Empty came for Cas. 

That’s when realization struck. 

Cas was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. Not this time.

Dean could still feel pressure where Cas had last touched him. A trembling hand flew up to his shoulder in a panic, clutching the bloody handprint stained on his jacket sleeve. 

He didn't even get a chance to say anything. Dean didn’t get a chance to tell the angel that he loved him back.

Dean never told Cas how he really felt because he was scared. Terrified of frightening his best friend away. He kept telling himself that he could push his feelings off. It seemed like every day, the hunter would convince himself that it was not the right time, that it could wait until tomorrow.

But now it was too late. 

Dean couldn’t breathe. The dull bunker walls became blurred around him, fading away into darkness.

He could never hold Cas again. Never get into a lame argument with him, never again crack a stupid joke that the angel would raise an eyebrow at. 

And Dean, if he made it out of this final fight—he would have to live without Cas. He would have to wake up every day without his angel there to greet him. 

He wouldn’t see Cas in Heaven either. The angel would be still be stuck in the Empty, alone. Not even Dean’s death would be an escape.

Broken sobs became panicked shrieks. 

Cas was gone.

How could he face the world without him? How could Dean look up at the sky without thinking about how his angel had fallen for him? Sacrificed himself for him?

How could he ever be happy again?

The hunter cried until his throat was sore. Tears fell from his face until he had nothing left inside. Dean ended up sitting against a wall, knees tucked to his chest. All he could feel was cold. Hollow, empty, abandoned. 

Lost. 

His mind wandered back to when he first met Castiel. Memories of his angel riding shotgun in the Impala, not understanding pop culture references, a gummy grin—

Wait...

Cas has died before. 

Last time Cas had died, he came back. Apparently, he had annoyed the Empty so much that he was allowed to go back to earth. 

Was it possible that Cas could do it again? 

Dean slowly rose from the floor, swaying in his exhaustion. 

Cas would come back to him. He always did. 

But Dean wouldn’t let him come back to a world like this— 

No. When Cas comes back (and he will), all of this damned fighting will be over. Team Free Will would be a family again. 

Dean would make sure of that. 

He numbly trudged over to his phone, which had stopped ringing an eternity ago. He pressed a shaking thumb to the screen, bringing the device to his ear. Immediatley Sam picks up. “Dean??? What happened? Are you okay?”

Dean bit his lip, a tear falling from his face. “We got work to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the quality of this fic. I wrote this all within a couple hours of watching the confession scene. I also apologize if I got any details wrong. Although I watched the specific scene where Cas gets taken by the Empty, I have not been able to watch anything else. 
> 
> Come wail with me in the comments, maybe?


End file.
